Do You Need a Data Recovery Service?Data

Everyone faces lost files, crashed hard drives and other data recovery emergencies at one point or another. Some data problems can be fixed with a DIY data recovery solution, while others require the services of a data recovery professional. Sometimes, you need a data recovery service even if your drive seems to be limping along just fine. Do you know which data errors and faults you can fix yourself and which require the services of a data recovery professional?

DIY Data Recovery

If you accidentally deleted a file, but your hard drive is humming along with no problems, you can usually retrieve the lost file yourself. If it’s not in your Recycle Bin for one reason or another, follow these steps as soon as you realize the error to avoid overwriting the sectors where the file is stored.

Stop using the drive immediately. Turn off the computer to keep any background processes from running – they may write data to the disk and overwrite the data you want to recover.

Download and run data recovery software from another drive, such as a USB flash drive.

If your hard drive boots up but it won’t load your operating system, a DIY data recovery solution may be possible if you’ve been vigilant about doing regular backups. You should be able to do a disk restore from a backup and get your hard drive up and running again.

If you turn on your computer and get the message that your hard drive isn’t found, or that it has errors, replacing the hard drive before it fails completely can avoid the need to call in a data recovery expert. Replace the hard drive and follow the installation instructions to restore a backup of your old hard drive to the new drive and you should be fine.

When You Need a Data Recovery Professional

There are other times when DIY recovery attempts will just make things worse. Contact a data recovery specialist like Fields Data Recovery (Fields Associates) if you have any of the following problems.

The hard drive won’t spin up or boot at all. The problem may be a mechanical failure of the drive. If that’s the case, your files are completely inaccessible through software means and you’ll need to call in an expert who can access the drive disks directly.

The hard drive clicks or groans when you turn on your computer or while the computer is running. In this case, the problem is almost definitely mechanical and you’re facing imminent disk failure. A data recovery expert has ways to access the drive without risking further data loss.

Your hard drive has been physically damaged by smoke, water or trauma. Running the hard drive after it’s damaged practically guarantees that you’ll make matters worse. A professional data recovery operation can open the disk in a clean room and attempt to recover the data that way.

If you do need to turn to the professionals, be sure to choose a data recovery company, such as Fields Data Recovery, that has an excellent reputation for delivering good results

Tips to Help Avoid the Need for Data Recovery on Your RAID Array

In today’s business environment, a redundant data array is almost a necessity to increase your computer’s efficiency and speed. When you go to the trouble and expense of setting up a hardware RAID array to make your computers more efficient and accurate, it would be foolish to stop short of protecting yourself from future data loss. Taking these steps now can help you avoid the need to call in a professional data recovery firm in the future.

Save Your Old Hard Drives Until You’re Sure You Won’t Need the Original Data

Often, you’ll be copying information onto your new array from an old hard drive or hard drives. Hold onto the hard drives until you’re certain that the data is securely transferred to your new RAID array and that the whole system is operating properly. If errors or faults crop up in the first few weeks, you’ll still have the original data to work from.

Back Up Your RAID drives Regularly to Tape

Using a RAID array doesn’t absolve you from the need to do regular backups. It’s still just as important to back up your data so you can recover it if something happens to the physical drives or your business. Backing up your drives to tape will make it far easier to restore your data than if you have to bring in an expert data recovery technician to resurrect your RAID.

Do Regular Performance Tests on Your Machines

Far too often, a disk in an array fails and no one notices because the array does what it’s supposed to do – reconstruct the missing data from the other drives in the RAID. Unless someone notices and steps in to repair or replace the damaged disk and restore the data it holds, the system will keep working until a second drive fails and the whole system grinds to a halt. At that point, with the entire system inaccessible, your only safe option is to call in a RAID data recovery specialist.

Don’t Try to Fix an Inaccessible RAID Array

The first reaction many inexperienced techs have when the files on a RAID drive become inaccessible is to try to fix the problem. Unfortunately, that’s almost always the wrong thing to do. Almost anything you do to fix the situation can result in the permanent loss of your important data. If things have gotten to this point, you have no choice but to call in a data recovery specialist to prevent erasing important data from your drive.

It’s always best to prevent data loss, or to plan for an easy restoration of data by backing up your data regularly. Sometimes, though, there’s no other choice but to call in experienced data recovery specialists like those at Fields Data Recovery to recover the data from your failed drives and restore it for your use.

Answers To Frequent Data Recovery Questions

Data recovery companies like Fields Data Recovery are among the best sources of information when things go drastically wrong with your hard drive. If your computer is having some odd symptoms, or if you’re wondering whether you should call in a pro data recovery company, the answers to the questions that the techs get asked more often can help you decide.

What Does It Mean If My Hard Drive Is Making a Clicking Sound?

If you try to boot up your computer and your hard drive just clicks repeatedly, your hard drive has an internal problem that most people can’t fix at home. Shut your computer down, pull the drive out and send it to a data recovery service if it has data on it you can’t afford to lose.

When I Turn My Computer On, the Hard Drive Makes a Loud Grinding Noise. Can I Fix It?

It sounds like there’s a problem with the read/write heads on your hard drive. The grinding sound you hear is the head dragging over the surface of your drive. Turn your computer off and don’t turn it back on – it will just make things worse. A data recovery company with a clean room may be able to recover some of your data for you.

My Computer Won’t Boot and It Looks Like the Whole Partition Is Missing. Are My Files Gone for Good?

Chances are good that a professional data recovery company can get your files back for you. If your computer won’t boot up, though, don’t try to recover the files yourself. There’s too great a chance that you’ll destroy more data. Contact a company that recovers data from hard drives and get instructions on how to package your hard drive and send it to them.

I Heard That I Can Un-stick My Hard Drive by Giving It a Shake or a Thump When It Won’t Spin Up. Will That Work?

The short answer is no. The components inside your hard drive are delicate and delicately calibrated. Shaking the drive or banging on it is a good way to cause physical damage to the disk and make it harder to recover any data that’s on the disk.

I Know It Was Stupid, But I Reinstalled My OS from Scratch Without Doing a Backup. Is There a Chance for Data Recovery?

There’s always a chance. A professional data recovery company has access to tools and specialized software that can get at any data that remains on your disk. There’s a lot more left than you think.

If you’ve suffered a hard drive crash or data loss, a data recovery company can be your best friend. You can usually get an estimate of the cost and time required to get at your data by calling a professional recovery firm and asking them about your situation.

Data Recovery Horror Stories And What You Can Learn From Them

Data recovery professionals, like those at Fields Data Recovery, hear all sorts of horror stories about crashed hard drives, dropped cell phones and digital cameras left out in the rain. Each of these data recovery horror stories provides a valuable lesson you can glean – after you stop laughing. Just keep in mind that data loss can happen to anyone, and when it does, the things you do can ensure whether Fields data recovery can get your lost files back for you.

Data Recovery Oops!

One huge Fortune 500 firm thought they’d covered all the bases. They purchased a top of the line UNIX network, instituted daily backups and hired an entire department to manage network services. Somehow, they forgot to include a system to which the backed up data could be restored. Oops!

Lesson One: Make sure you have all the pieces in place.

People Make Things Worse When They Don’t Know What to Do

When the server for a large hospital went down, the system operators didn’t immediately recognize what was happening. As little errors began infiltrating the network, they immediately jumped into repair mode instead of gathering data to diagnose the problem. Their attempts to fix the problem ended up erasing all the data on the RAID system that had been installed to ensure that the data would be available if the main system failed.

Lesson Two: Educate your staff on data recovery processes.

Standardization Exists for a Reason

Businesses that try to do things on the cheap often end up with data recovery problems that are next to impossible to fix. One firm thought they’d save money by purchasing a big-name server system from an off-label dealer. The system manager did the configuration himself rather than adhering to industry standards. When the system failed, the company ended up shelling out big bucks to a data recovery firm to extract their inaccessible data.

Lesson Three: Stick to standard procedures if you DIY your system. It will make data recovery easier in the event you need it.

Keep Your Backups in a Safe Place

One company went to great lengths to make sure that all their data was backed up daily. They laid out the bucks for a top-of-the-line automatic backup system to back up every transaction immediately. Unfortunately, they located the backup server in the same room as the rest of their system. When a plumbing disaster flooded the room, both systems were fried, requiring the services of a data recovery firm.

Lesson Four: Always keep your backups offsite.

Always Test Your Data Recovery System

A local IT firm – who really should have known better – set up a “foolproof” tape backup system to back up all their customer files daily. They went about their daily business for months, never giving the backups a second thought since they were being done automatically. When their main system failed, they discovered the awful truth. The backup system they’d depended upon hadn’t actually run for months because of a mechanical problem with the server. Instead of the quick restore they’d planned, they had to send out their main disk to a data recovery firm.

Lesson Five: Test your backups regularly to catch any problems before they become a major issue.

Data loss happens despite the best efforts of companies to avoid or prevent them. No matter what the reason for your data mishap, chances are the data recovery firm has already dealt with it or something even funnier.